A record-breaking 112 million Americans shopped and dined locally last weekend on Small Business Saturday. That’s a 13 percent increase over 2015, according to American Express, which launched the campaign in 2010. The company estimates that 72 percent of Americans are now aware of the day, a slight increase from last year (70 percent).
But is all that goodwill (and associated spending) making its way to florists? Not necessarily, said members of the Society of American Florists’ Retailers Council, who weighed in this week on Small Business Saturday 2016 returns. Their universal verdict: The day was slow — and even if sales were up, it would be a stretch to credit Small Business Saturday.
“Our Amex sales on Saturday were down 43 percent compared with Small Business Saturday last year and down 48 percent compared with Small Business Saturday in 2014,” said Skip Paal, AAF, of Rutland Beard Floral Group, headquartered near Baltimore. “Overall, non-sympathy sales were only off by 12 percent for Saturday, which typically is not an extremely busy day to begin with. We heard similar stagnant comments from other merchants.”
Skip Paal, AAF, Rutland Beard Floral Group, saw a 43 percent dip in Amex sales on Small Business Saturday compared to the year prior.
Awareness of the holiday is increasing and, at least in Paal’s area, the weather was good… so what gives?
Paal, also an SAF Board of Directors member, speculates that some of the early incentives offered by the company, including cash credits for supporting local businesses from 2010 to 2014, have given way to less alluring “double point” offers that extend through the end of the year, removing the sense of urgency to shop on that day. (At press time, American Express had not responded to inquiries from EBrief editors about the shift in those incentives.
“In our locations, Small Business Saturday was never a large day,” Paal added. “Generally, we might expect to see walk-in sales increase moderately by 20 percent for the day versus other Saturdays in November and early December, but never anything dramatic… I think it’s too early to tell if this is a valid trend or if the Small Business Saturday event was just not promoted enough in our locations.”
But, according to his peers on the Retailers Council, Paal was far from alone.
“Here in Arkansas, we did not see any increase at all,” said Jo Buttram, AAF, TMF, of Shirley’s Flowers Inc., and an SAF Board member.
Even with ads promoting Small Business Saturday spearheaded by local business groups, “I think it was one of the slowest Saturdays we have seen with sales off about 10 percent for that day,” she said.
Rachel Martin of Ballard Blossom Inc. in Seattle agreed the day was “pretty slow,” even though Martin had registered her shop on the Small Business Saturday site and used promotional materials (which, unfortunately, didn’t arrive until Friday, the day before the event.)
“I had signage on the sidewalk in front of the store and did a ‘boosted’ Facebook post, but the day did about half the business we did the year before,” she said, speculating that a Saturday in December might have more of an impact. “I feel like this day has a lot of potential, but just never quite makes a splash.”
Jo Buttram, AAF, promoted Small Business Saturday but didn’t see any uptick in business as a result.
In Charleston, South Carolina, Manny Gonzales of Tiger Lily Florist called Saturday “one of the slowest days of the entire year for us.”
“My analysis is that folks are shopping, just not for flowers,” he said, noting that national retailers and chains in his area were offering special sales on Saturday at specific times, e.g. 20 percent off at Kohl’s from 8 a.m. to 10 a.m.
“Normally we have a funeral or something pop up right after a major holiday, but this year, nothing,” he said. “Monday was back to normal and a typical sales day.”
Even Retailers Council members who had good days on Saturday were reluctant to tie their positive returns to the event.
In West Chester, Pennsylvania, Kate Delaney, AAF, of Matlack Florist, also saw more Small Business Saturdaypromotions coming from local business groups. She saw an 8 percent increase in walk-in Sales Saturday, but said she “cannot attribute this to any promotion…This is historically a slow weekend for us.”
Matlack Florist enjoyed an eight percent increase in sales on the Saturday after Thanksgiving compared to the previous year, but Kate Delaney doesn’t attribute it to Small Business Saturday.
“…folks are shopping, just not for flowers,” said Manny Gonzales.
Tim Galea, of Norton’s Flowers & Gifts in Ypsilanti and Ann Arbor, Michigan, saw sales rise “appreciably” on Saturday, historically part of a “pretty slow” weekend for the business.
“I’m very confident it had nothing to do with Small Business Saturday,” he said.
Galea agreed with Paal’s assessment of the diminishing value of the incentives provided by American Express to consumers.
“We had not marketed Small Business Saturday and, to my knowledge, none of our customers mentioned it at time of purchase,” he said. “It seemed, at the beginning , like it might eventually be something big. Instead, it has gone the other way.”
In Billings, Montana, Kristen Gainan-Sparboe of Gainan’s Floral & Greenhouse, reported, “We had a great day, but I do not know that I can say for sure that the impact is directly related to Small Business Saturday. Compared to last year, our orders by increased 31.2 percent and deliveries increased by 46.3 percent. Our weather has been unseasonably warm with no snow, and I believe that helped to get more people out shopping in local retail stores.”
For her part, Gainan-Sparboe did “a little” Small Business Saturday promotion on social media “and had counter signs by all the tills, but our main paid advertising focus for the weekend was for our open house at the garden center and our commercial for the season that has been running daily and on the local channels.”
Look for more coverage of Small Business Saturday, Black Friday and Cyber Monday next week. SAF members should be on the lookout for an email survey soliciting feedback on all three holidays. In addition to completing the survey, you can share your experience — including promos and partnerships that worked — with mwestbrook@safnow.org.